


Communicate

by shortlived



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-17 21:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13667604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortlived/pseuds/shortlived
Summary: Red's fine with having a crush on Green (and therefore having bad taste in guys), he can keep that to himself; but that doesn't mean he knows how to handle Green possibly having eyes for someone.Poorly, most likely.A fic based around Valentine's Day/White Day about relationships, jealousy, and (mis)communication—and also, meddling.





	Communicate

**Author's Note:**

> when you spend a week on a fic for valentine's day and then it's more about white day or overly romantic, oops. enjoy anyway.

With a smile bright on her face, Lyra brings the carrier bag dangling from her arm into her hands, takes out two boxes from within and shoves one each towards the pair of them.  
  
"Happy Valentines!" she sing-songs cheerfully.   
  
Red blinks at the box, a white ribbon wrapped around a red exterior that's smooth against his fingers, then blinks at  _her_  inquisitively, while Green stands more animated at his side, giving his—appropriately  _green_ —box a shake and a wave. "Huh, wha? So what, you're finally admitting you've got a crush on me?"  
  
She gives him a thump on the arm, getting an actual  _ow!_  hissed out of Green while she giggles jovially in contrast. " _Silly,_  I'm giving all my friends Valentines! I've got more to do too, so," her hands go together in apology, head bowing to each of them but lingering on Red, "I can't hang out today. Sorrrry! I've got twenty more people to go!"  
  
"Twenty? Are you crazy?" asks Green, and Red doesn't know why he does. It sounds about right to him, and Lyra just keeps on smiling, oblivious to any real sincerity to the question.  
  
So Green ends up sighing, leaning an elbow on Red's shoulder.  
  
"Guess I'm stuck with him all day, huh? Sure you don't want to do me a favour and get him to help you?"  
  
Red knocks his arm off, but fails to knock Green off balance. Green's smirk doesn't even leave his face, and they glare at one another as Lyra considers the suggestion.  
  
"Wellll..." Her head bops momentarily to the thought—but then shakes. "No, that's okay. Draggy's doing well carrying them, and you two always have fun together." Green rolls his eyes, and Red thinks,  _mutual._  "If you don't have any plans today, you should spend it doing what you like."  
  
She then leans in a fraction, hand going beside her mouth, and whispers, "Is that where Bonita is?"  
  
Bonita; Red recognises it as one of the trainers that comes often to Green's gym, but he can't remember a face, and a quick scan of the room offers little help to guess who's missing. Ever since he and Lyra became frequent visitors, more trainers have been showing up; a complaint Green likes to regularly share with him.  
  
"I dunno—why should I know?" Green shrugs, hands going out. "I don't ask them how they spend their free time. That airhead can do what he wants as long as he's not bothering me about it."  
  
Lyra whines his name at that, chiding him for not knowing his own underlings better, but it's a short-lived exchange when Green's finally nudging her towards the way out; wasn't  _she_  the one who said she had no time to be sticking around? And a dragonite's head pops into the room curiously at that moment, causing Lyra to gasp and remember that her Draggy's been waiting the entire entire time.   
  
"Don't forget!" She waves a hand frantically, barely paying attention as she walks backwards. "I want chocolates next month!"  
  
She bumps straight into her dragonite on the way out. The gym loses a little something with her gone, some cheer and colour, but Lyra has a habit of making any space her own, Red's come to notice. Yet it's always the experience when she leaves, and so they move on before long, both he and Green sitting on the benches with their boxes to see what's inside. The colours are different, but the sweets—small rice crisp balls covered in chocolate—are the same, with matching doodles of a cartoon Lyra saying  _'Pokémon friendly!'_  in a speech bubble on the inside of the lid.   
  
"Did she give you more?" Green peers at his gift with speculative eyes, and Red wraps an arm warily around it, popping one of the sweet treats into his mouth. It crunches when he bites down, and he sucks slowly on the chocolate that covers the rice, sweet yet bitter on his tongue.  
  
"She should," he says with the mouthful. "You're already complaining." Green clicks his tongue.  
  
"You and her  _are_  pretty close... think she likes you?"  
  
He doesn't bother to turn his head, but he does give Green a doubtful look out of the corner of his eye. "Are you jealous?"  
  
That makes Green scoff louder. "Of that dork? If I'm going to go out with someone, I want them to be..." He struggles to find the words, but makes a curved motion over his chest, tilting his head, drawing out a sound from his mouth. "Mmmm, you know.... _older._ "  
  
_Physically mature,_  he's sure Green means, and Red can picture the type of girl, or woman: one that's pretty, with wide hips, full-chested and, well -  
  
feminine.  
  
He bites on the inside of his lower lip, looking back down to the chocolate-covered treats, because there's something weird and uncomfortable in talking about Green's preferences that he doesn't want to encourage. So: "Lyra's fine. She's got a better-looking face than yours."  
  
Unfortunately, the defence of her makes Green smirk, giving him reason to lean into him. "Ohh," he draws out, "so you  _do_  like her, eh? Got a thing for the girl who can kick your—"  
  
Red dips a hand swiftly into Green's box while he's distracted and stuffs the stolen contents into his mouth, Green shoving him with a  _"Hey!"_  —But before Green can really retaliate, Red's already up on his feet, managing to get out a 'see ya' that's smothered between the blocks of crispy sweets lodged between his teeth on his way out of the gym.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
The aftertaste of chocolate clings hours later to the insides of Red's cheeks and in the spaces between his gums, and he pokes a tongue around idly to bring the flavour closer to the surface. What's left in the box gets split between the members of his team—except for Venusaur, who doesn't particularly care for chocolate—and everyone but Pikachu manages to down their share in single bites before continuing onto their main meal.  
  
And while they do, Red toys with the ridiculous image of Green's type, and the fact that Green has one at all.   
  
But they were around that age now, weren't they. When it was more appropriate to look at a person, and want something more.  
  
Pikachu's rests snug against the crook of his neck and shoulder on the way home. When he gets in, his mother nods to a small bag on the kitchen counter, tied shut by a thin green ribbon.  
  
"Daisy brought it over earlier," she explains, turning back to the stove where heat wafts as she stirs, "she says she missed being able to give you any. Do you remember, when you were younger?"   
  
Her laugh is soft, tinged with reminiscence, and Red picks the small bag up, about the size of his palm. He does remember, somewhat; it's a distant memory past snowy cliffs and growing pains, but he can recall snippets: chocolate stars the size of his pinky, knees dirtied by youth and games, and times when he tried to give Green his last piece, hoping it would say for him things he didn't want to speak aloud. Because he was too afraid to say it, his heart too full and his lips too twisted in the frustrations of not knowing himself.  
  
Except chocolate was chocolate. And what did chocolate say other than, 'oh, sweet', or 'oh, do you have a stomach ache?' When did it ever suggest:  _Oh, you've been thinking about kissing me?  
  
Well, why don't we?_  
  
"Red?"  
  
His mother stands paused, a pair of forks and spoons in her hand. "Dinner will be another hour or so. Are you alright?"  
  
She steps towards him, but he shakes his head, gives some excuse that it's been a long day; he's tired, and he'll take a nap before dinner. It's enough for her, and he makes his leave with Pikachu barely stirring on his shoulder until the bed comes in sight. As if by instinct he whines a yawn in Red's ear, then jumps to pad his small paws into finding the comfiest spot at the end of the bed.  
  
Red joins him, sitting the bag at his bedside- unaware of the way it'll distract him when he lays there, the small thing with its shimmering material, holding his gaze. He rolls his tongue along the back of his gums, idly, to bring a flavour back up to the surface.  
  
But all he tastes now is saliva, while seeing a far too vivid image of Green without even shutting his eyes.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
His pokégear vibrates not much later:  
  
  
_@lyra: soooo did you do anything  
  
@red: like what  
  
@lyra: with green!!! after i left!!  
  
@red: ?  
@red: we battled already  
@red: he was being annoying so i left  
  
@lyra: (;￣ヘ￣)  
@lyra: reeeeeddddd  
  
@red: what   
@red: thanks for the chocolate by the way  
  
@lyra: np but thats not having fun  
  
@red: me and my pokemon had fun  
  
@lyra: well were going to have fun  
@lyra: tuesday!!  
@lyra: togi really misses pikachu ☆彡  
@lyra: and im meeting up with misty so lets meet up too  
@lyra: ok???  
  
@red: are you bringing chocolate  
  
@lyra: nope sorry! all gone ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)   
@lyra: you can buy me some  
@lyra: remember!! the 14th!!  
@lyra: red???  
  
@red: zzzzzz  
  
@lyra: RED (ಠ ∩ಠ)  
_  
  
  
\---  
  
  
He waits for Lyra on Nugget Bridge just outside of Cerulean at her request, clicking through options on his pokégear while his pikachu scurries along the ledge of the railing; delighting in warmer weather of the day, the bird pokémon above head, and anyone that will regard him as they walk by.   
  
It's not unusual, these get-togethers. Lyra's insisted on the pair of them hanging out ever since he decided to finally join her on her descent of Mt. Silver, usually with a goal of getting him to socialise with the other gym leaders in the region (even Lt. Surge—even  _Blaine_ ), or friends she knew and thought would be fun for him to know. Lyra had a natural habit of chattering about everything and anything, getting numbers slipped into his pokégear, and having him agreeing with something or another later in the month.  
  
The shift between the desolate mountain slopes and crowded cities should have been more suffocating— and now and then, it was; but between the time spent with Lyra and the hours at Green's gym, he finds something to focus on, and some reason to stick around. For now.  
  
Pikachu squeaks happily when Lyra's togetic swoops in to join him on the railing, and Red looks up - then cocks a brow, when he sees Misty by Lyra's side, tagging along. The older girl flashes him a smile, as well as a half-hearted shrug to answer the unspoken question of her presence.  
  
Well, it was never like he was the only one Lyra was roping into doing things.   
  
But half an hour into lunch and an explanation of Misty's  _love-spectacular_  event for White Day next month, and Red isn't sure he needed to sit in on  _this_  meeting. Even if he didn't mind the wrap he's been munching away on the entire conversation.  
  
"We're going to have a section where the couples can battle together, and a spot where people can have their photos taken, with or without pokémon. There'll be some games too,  _and_  fireworks at the end of the night!" Misty seems to be having fun talking anyway, inbetween forkfuls of her pasta salad, while Lyra nods every now and then.  
  
It's following a shared glance between the two girls that Lyra addresses Red.  
  
"Do you have anyone you'd want to invite?"   
  
It's an unexpected question, and he pauses before his next bite. Anyone, for a get-together involving couples? He struggles to find a name, with eventually Daisy coming to mind—which is awkward, admittedly, despite how innocent the thought is. Unless he were about three or four years younger again, anyway.  
  
But he isn't, and so he shakes his head. Misty eyes Lyra with another curious look, then taps her fork against the pasta spirals in the bowl. "It  _is_  the day that guys do things," she says carefully, close to enunciating her words. "You know. Guys taking their girlfriends. Or guys with their boyfriends."  
  
Red takes a small bite from his wrap as he waits, the taste of some sort of herb hitting his tongue.  
  
"Is there anyone you can think of?" Misty tries, this time. They both have their eyes on him expectantly, and all he can do is sit there and slowly chew, letting the silence be his response. Did they expect an actual answer, like he didn't spend nearly a year being intimate with a snow mountain?   
  
( Was he supposed to say Pikachu? )  
  
"How about Green?" Lyra finally pipes up, once the silence draws on for too long, and Red blinks. That wasn't a name he expected to hear.  
  
"What about Green?"  
  
"Isn't there anyone he likes?"  
  
"Himself?"  
  
Misty coughs, while Lyra's smile only brightens. " _Apart_  from himself," she waves, then passing a berry between her fingers with a thoughtful expression worn on her face. "There was a girl, you  _know_ \- one of his gym trainers gave him a Valentines. He told me."  
  
Red pauses; not sure at first what he's supposed to think about this info, then wondering why  _Lyra_  knows, from Green of all people, when he'd said nothing to him.  
  
Then he has to wonder what it matters anyway, all in a few seconds – and what any of this  _still_  has to do with him. "So?"  
  
"Do you know Ida? She double teams with Elan; Salma's the strict one, she doesn't believe in friendly Valentines—" Lyra starts to babble, about nothing actually useful, but catches herself, berry held between the fingers of both her hands. "Anyway," she shakes her head, "that's why you need to think about what you want to do, too. You're young, you're good looking! You need to hurry up and find the right love for you, before you miss your chance!"  
  
She grins with fire in her eyes, and Red just blinks, dumbly, and half-cringing from the cheese of what he'd expect to hear from his mother before Lyra (well, then again). He looks to Misty for some kind of aid or clue; but she ducks her head, content on eating her lunch.  
  
"...Sure," is all he can come out with, more of a question than anything. And Lyra nods eagerly, unaware, clapping a hand.  
  
"Great!"  
  
She slips the berry into her mouth, satisfied.  
  
  
  
\---  
  
  
  
Misty's name flashing on his gear later isn't something he expects to see.  
  
  
_@misty: Hey, sorry if today was kinda funny. Lyra was hoping you'd have a nice time at the event, if you wanted to come. It's for friends too, not just couples. -Misty.  
  
@red: it's fine. thanks.   
@red: i don't know anyone who would want to go to that kind of thing.  
  
@misty: Lyra says she plans to come? I don't know if she'll be with anyone. Probably everyone, knowing her.   
@misty: You can invite a friend too.  
@misty: To be honest  
@misty: She just wants you to have a good time. It doesn't matter who with.   
  
@red: i know.  
  
  
  
@misty: Come to the gym sometime and get some tickets from me, free of charge.  
@misty: You can always take Lyra.  
@misty: She gave you chocolates too, didn't she?  
@misty: She sounded excited about watching the fireworks at the end of the night.  
@misty: just think about it.  
  
  
  
@red: alright.  
@red: thanks.  
  
@misty: No problem. And loosen up! We've battled enough times to be friendly. :-P  
@misty: let's do it again sometime  
  
@red: sure :)  
@red: talk to you later_  
  
  
\---  
  
  
  
Unusual conversations don't stop his occasional visits to the Viridian Gym, and his and Lyra's absence in the past few days hasn't done much about the increase in visitors. There's more than there had been on Valentine's, Red notes, with trainers probably less distracted now by exchanges of gifts and promised romance.  
  
And the headcount only increases further in the hour he's there, a few suspect pokégears being poked at beforehand.  
  
_im banning you from my gym_  pops up on Red's own. He looks up from it to see Green turned in his direction, a glare not seen across the distance, but felt. Punching in a response, he pulls down on his hat in a poor attempt to be inconspicuous, leaning back on the bench.  
  
_@red: shrug_  
  
A solution apparently comes in the forms of Green's rhyperior and tyranitar. The latter pokémon kicks its feet, antsy and impatient, its roar reverberating off the gym walls, with Green's voice somehow managing to follow on after it:  
  
"Alright, you losers! Anyone who's got any business being here better be ready to face my guys!" He smacks a hand against the protrusion on Rhyperior's arm, and the pokémon knows to growl, a  _thud_  sounding from somewhere–probably its arms. "I want to see every baby face in here  _out_ by the time we're done making our first opponent cry!"  
  
His warning doesn't help to get people trickling out the gym doors pronto, but by the time Tyranitar's sandstorm has reached Red's end of the gym, the tiled arrows on the ground flipped to a smoother, harder backing to withstand the earthquakes that cause even the walls to shake and stutter, there's blankets of sand in places where feet used to be. Red would say the place was vastly emptier by the second match (poor guy, that one – he even had a decent poliwrath), but it'd be a lie, considering the state of it now.  
  
Red's sure he even feels sand in the back of his throat. The usual gym regulars look a mix of bemused and resigned, but Red's skin is tingling as he crosses the space of a room, reminded in the best way possible the match with Green that he came here in the first place to have.   
  
Still, that doesn't stop him from pointing out- "This isn't a gym. This is just one big playground to you."  
  
"You just noticed? Why else do you visit?" Green's grinning from ear to ear, his tyranitar punching its stubby fist into a stubby clawed hand. He tilts his head forward, looking down at Red from the platform that gives him height. "To learn from a pro?"  
  
Red folds his arms, feeling the corners of his own mouth wanting to twitch but refusing the temptation. "There's a pro other than me here?"  
  
"Oh, I dunno; how about the guy who nearly wiped out your precious pikachu on the first day 'cause  _someone_  didn't know what a  _trick room_  was?"  
  
"Who  _still_  won that?" But now Red can't resist smirking, and his arms unfurl again while Green shakes his loose. A heavy thud hits the ground when Tyranitar steps forward, and now, Red doesn't care about the eyes watching him, them, as he gets a ball ready.  
  
"Come on then, asshole," challenges Green.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
Green closes up the gym afterwards for an early lunch, shrugging when one of the trainers starts to go  _"But—"_  and cutting off his complaint.  
  
"What? I'm hungry, and we need to replace ten of the tiles—thanks for that, by the way," he shoots Red's way; "Anyway, it's like I always say: if you can't train without me around, you'll never get anywhere, yeah?"  
  
Red's sure the guy knows as well as him it's a lousy excuse thought up on the spot, but one that makes some sense, so the best he can argue is a determined, "Then I'll get my chance against you once we open again!"  
  
"Sure, sure," Green waves him off, rolling his eyes; but there's a good mood in Green's steps as they hit a small diner in the city, slipping into a booth.  
  
"That was Arabella, he loves normal types. I've seen him making eyes at your snorlax."  
  
"He  _is_  good-looking."  
  
"Arabella?" Green teases, which flattens Red's expression, and makes Green laugh. "Who was the one who challenged you last time? Bonita? Salma?"  
  
"The girl–" He lifts a hand, gesturing to the back of his head. "–with the hair bun. Sour face. Like a pinsir's."  
  
" _Salma_ ," Green scoffs knowingly. "She's good. She's been training harder since you and Lyra started showing up too much. I'm betting she'll be looking for my badge the next league season."  
  
The conversation lulls while they order their food, and Red recalls the regulars: Salma with her lickilily, then Arabella with– normal types? The tauros, he reckons, but he wasn't the only one with normal-types who frequented the gym.   
  
It's a meaningless line of thinking, but it reminds him of another lunch, a berry passed between sleek fingers.   
  
_'Ida? She double teams with Elan...'_  
  
"Who are the pair who team up?" He asks, once their orders are taken. Green makes a sound.  
  
"Oh–Ida and Elan?"  
  
Red hums, a slight nod of his head, staring down at the table's glossy surface. It'd be nice to have a water to sip on, or a glass to mess around with. "Lyra said," he starts, regretting already the way he's decided to go, but having no room to back out, "she gave you a Valentines. Ida," he adds the name after a pause, uselessly.  
  
He doesn't sneak a glance to read Green's expression, catching only the way his arm shifts on the table. It means nothing to him, except the pause — thoughtful? surprised? — before Green speaks.  
  
"I'm a popular guy," he offers, and he moves back in his seat, rattling on. "Stunningly handsome, a great trainer—"   
  
"Too shy to tell me."  
  
"I've got to tell you everything?" Green shoots back defensively, but the downward curve of his lips fall out of shape, along with his voice when he speaks back up. "You acted— funny, you know? Last time, about Lyra. I thought  _you'd_  be the one getting shy about it."  
  
It feels like forever ago, that he can barely contest to the first part. His fingers tap on the tabletop, doubt sitting in his gut. "You're not into her?" he asks, without much else to say.  
  
"What?" Green's gaze narrows and fixes on him, and Red flinches to keep the eye contact, wishing more that their drinks or anything would appear. "What's with the sudden interest?"  
  
"Lyra was asking," he says defensively, his own brow creasing. "She wanted to know if I'd take someone to Misty's event next month and said you already had someone."  
  
"Event?" Green repeats, puzzled.  
  
"Couples thing," he shrugs, turning away to a view of their earlier waiter bringing drinks to their table. Red mutters a thanks, sliding his glass closer to himself. Green's watching him, eyeing him in a that's uncomfortable, annoying too, by the curl of his mouth.   
  
"You  _are_  shy talking about this kind of thing, aren't you?"  
  
Red finds a leg first try when he kicks out his foot.  
  
" _Ow_ ,  _hey_!" Green looks ready to return it with the dirty eyeful he's boring into him, but he withdraws, taking a drink of his juice. The bottom hits the table just as he starts: " _Alright._  So she asked you about this— and about me?" He points a thumb at himself. "The only reason it came up was because she was bugging me about you."  
  
Red stares at him. Green spreads out a hand. "I'm being serious, Red: I think she's into you. Haven't you noticed how close she sits to you? And all the times she calls you to go out, hangs around you like a lost growlithe..." He leans his elbows on the table. "Seriously. Why else is she being so nosy?"  
  
There's a pressure around Red's eyes from where he's glaring at Green too intensely, a heat in his stomach he hasn't wanted to acknowledge as there. In his experience, everything Green says should be taken with a pinch of salt, usually thrown out back and forgotten at best. But—that's a lie as well. He's arrogant, he's annoying, and he has a face that makes Red want to start a fight with him more often than not; and even now, Green can't help the playful tone, even in his supposed honesty.  
  
But he knows Green is being as sincere as he can possibly be under the circumstances. And Red doesn't know what to say or do about it.  
  
So he says nothing for a while, Green rolling his eyes and shrugging, a silence returning between them for a while. Their food eventually arrives, a toasted sandwich for him and a roll for Green, and Red finally answers after the first bite.  
  
"She's just friendly."  
  
"Real friendly to  _you_ ," comes Green's smarmy reply, over his bread.  
  
" _And_  you," Red shoots back, frowning. "She asked if you'd want to take someone to the event too. Like  _Ida_."  
  
It doesn't sound like a name out of him anymore, but something guilty, accusatory, and— and ridiculous. "Really?" Green even mutters, not looking at him as he pulls apart at his food. "She's real nosy. It was just a box of chocolates."  
  
  
But when he sees them later, and thinks he sees the occasional glances that Green takes in her direction, Red questions how true that really is.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
He doesn't go to the gym the next day or the one after that; there's no special reason to it, and Red tells himself this all the way through Viridian Forest and up the mountains of Mt. Moon. There's less people around than he recalls from his memories, and despite the gravellers in the area jumping out once or twice over his head, it's peaceful taking the outer routes.  
  
Peaceful, Red finds, isn't something he wants. It leads to too much thinking, but he accepts it out of knowing nowhere better to go for a short while.  
  
"Did you take a trip?"  
  
His mother appears from the back door by the kitchen when he returns home later, watching him drag out the dry food from storage for the pokémon already waiting. Lapras sing-songs upon her appearance, who laughs and offers him a small wave, while Snorlax watches Red's back quite intently. In Snorlax's defence, most of them do.  
  
"Just into the mountains." Red brushes at his fringe, then scoops the food out, noting how low he has to dig in. He'll have to buy more eventually, but this fact doesn't stop him from adding a few extra scoop into their dishes.   
  
If there was anything nice about taking a break from travelling, it was how easier meal times tended to be. More relaxed. He watches them dig in, his mother joining by his side with folded arms. They stand quietly for a while until she pats his arm, inspecting him down to from his dusty arms and muddied jeans, tutting at what she see.  
  
"Look at you," she chides fondly. "You should get a bath. I'll keep an eye on them — go on," she nods to the door, smiling.   
  
He's shoo'd off without much resistance, and his pokémon don't seem to mind his departure into the house. The muscles in his body loosen under the hot water of a bath, his hair clinging to his face no matter how many times he brushes it back. He's still messing it once he's done and back downstairs, his pokémon returned to their balls to rest and a cup of hot cocoa in his hands, fingernails now free of grime and bits of food.  
  
"Do you want me to cut it?" His mother leans to tuck back some strands near his eyes. "But then, it looks handsome on you."  
  
He makes a face at her, but she's turned her back, walking towards the kitchen table and picking up a magazine. "I saw something that would suit you. Why don't you treat yourself?" She flicks through the pages on her way back to him, pausing mid-way, but then holds the book out for him to take. "Have fun with your friends while you're together."  
  
They're clothes, posed in by guys with fluffy hairstyles or cut short and fashionable, always glancing sideways or directly at him with the same bored expression. One of the jackets looks close to the kind Green likes to often wear, and most of the jeans look exactly like something Red could buy for half the price elsewhere—or more, when he finally spots the prices. His interest was already close to living with the onix (who did he want to show off to?), but that made the grave.  
  
"It's a waste," he says, and turns the page. His mother hums next to him, thoughtful in her tone.   
  
"I wouldn't think so," she teases. Red's nose wrinkles, his cheeks warming.  
  
" _Mom._ "  
  
She laughs, leaving him be. But his attention drifts back to the page, and briefly, he imagines: being more like Green, their roles reversed, and somehow having the same effect on Green as he has on him.  
  
But he can't even pretend it in his head, and shoves the book aside.  
  
  
\---  
  
_@green: lover girl came to see you  
@green: she asked me out but i thought id give you a chance  
@green: youre welcome  
  
  
  
@lyra: redddddd can you hear me  
@lyra: where did you go? was it fun?  
@lyra: janines been teaching me ninja tricks. she says ive got potential (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑  
@lyra: ttyl!!_  
  
  
\---  
  
  
"I'm surprised you got in touch! But I think Starmie needed that."  
  
The waters aren't rough around the cape, but Misty has to speak loudly to be heard over the noise of the sea around them, the waves threatening to climb higher each time they roll in, but yet to reach Red's trainers. They're in just the right spot where the ground above casts them in a shadow that the sun can't chase off, and his lapras and blastoise seem content in the company of Misty's water pokémon, sprays of water guns shooting upward, or ripples from bodies being shove around underwater disturbing the surface.  
  
Starmie's jewel glitters, the pokémon content resting next to its trainer.  
  
"They outmatched my pokémon physically, but you can tell they're not used to water battles. You can always bring them over more, my gym's got good trainers too. We'll be open more regularly once I'm done with all this."  
  
Red knows it's advice for their earlier match, and nods. Some part of battling her reminded him of when Lyra first showed up at Mt. Silver's peak, the first trainer he'd seen in months. He'd almost forgotten what it was like, swapping trainers for the wild instinct of hardened pokémon. It was refreshing; something new.  
  
Wasn't he wasting time now, only going to Green's, or somewhere else when Lyra dragged him out?  
  
"How are things going between you and Lyra? Is that why you visited?"  
  
The question brings him out of his thoughts.  
  
"I wanted Lapras and Blastoise to have a water battle. We don't get many, and you were a good pick." He knows there's more to the question and to the mention of Lyra, but he smiles at her like he doesn't, and she looks at him, then back at the sea. He thinks he catches the sound of her humming thoughtfully, but it could be sea foam, too, sizzling away around her bare feet.  
  
Venusaur helps them climb from the top where Red had left her, enjoying the sunshine and the walk they take back into Cerulean, slow and easy and accompanied by her scent. Misty carries her shoes over her shoulder, her feet pressing into the grass.  
  
"You and Green, you've been friends since way back, right?" He raises an eyebrow, which Misty laughs a little at. "Lyra said a few things, and I remember when the both of you showed up at my gym years ago, one after another. He sounds about the same as he did then as he does whenever I see him now—a real pain."  
  
There's real humour in her voice, and Red scoffs at that, can't help a smile himself. He cocks his head, giving a slight shrug. "He's always been like that."  
  
"You can tell."  
  
"But it's fine. It's just who he is."   
  
"You wouldn't change him?" It sounds like teasing, and Red holds back a chuckle.  
  
"I wouldn't go that far," he jokes, but with none of the energy of one. A different kind of Green wouldn't be Green at all.  
  
"Why did you want to know about him?" Red asks later, and she stops to wipe her feet and put on her shoes. This time he hears her hum, cut short when she finds a bothersome stone stuck to the heel of her foot to wipe away.  
  
"Well, I don't know a lot about the guy. For a boy who likes to brag, he keeps to himself. And it's good to know what other people has to say about someone, sometimes. Especially when they're close."  
  
Her expression is pleasant when she stands upright facing him, and he thinks there's something more to it, again—but it's hard to tell if it's because he thinks there's more, or not.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
Red moves on from Cerulean to the southern sloping hills that lead towards Saffron, oddish rustling between the long grass and one too many meowths darting out in front of his legs, and finds the city's gym leader just as he arrives with his feet tired from the walk, their gazes meeting. She says their meeting is no coincidence, and so they battle despite the slight fatigue in his bones. He's dealt with worse, and it's late enough to hit up a hotel afterwards for the night.  
  
He's been gone for days, but he doesn't bother checking his pokégear, letting it fall deeper into the bottom of his bag.  
  
Instead, he decides to take his meeting with Sabrina as the sign she painted it as, and follows the route down to Vermilion where Lt. Surge is still in town. The ex-military man is more than eager for a rematch, and to drag Red into teaching the underlings a few things about skill. He manages to get away after battling half of his trainers and with lectures ringing in his ears as loud as the port city's colours, and heads towards the coastal roads that lead to the more discreet Fuchsia.  
  
It's a longer distance than either of the other cities were to reach, with most of trainer selection being fishermen more focused on their catches, quiet in their concentration. One offers him a rod to join them despite this, but Red declines, continuing until the late evening to find his way off the sound-consuming bridge.   
  
He can hear the sea better the lower he gets. Other from the tree branches brushing against one another from wild pokémon living in the wood nearby, it's all he has to listen to, and the heavy padding of Venusaur and the low low patter of Pikachu's eager feet on the ground when he lets them out to join him. It doesn't fill the quiet spaces as much as he'd like, but it makes it less lonely as he walks, a little less empty.   
  
When he was younger and walking these trails for the first time, catching pokémon, battling trainers, dealing with Team Rocket and collecting badges, it was easier to ignore the topics he didn't want to touch. Going on the road and leaving home behind for foreign lands and lofty mountains, it was easier to tell himself that some things didn't matter.  
  
And they didn't, at that point; faraway lands and new sights came before a crush on your childhood friend who was too cool and independent to spend time with you. So did learning more about the world and the pokémon you picked as your team before any pining for a voice you used to hear nearly every day, or a face that the sight of boiled to the surface a mess of emotions, knotting your stomach in more than the normal kind of frustration.  
  
It never mattered before, because there was no one else to catch Green looking at, no one to think who would be stupid enough (or just as stupid) to look his way. Or anyone to believe that he would look back at, in turn.  
  
But would he have done anything, even if there had been? It's hard to say what he even wants, when he'd be just as ready to pull out Green's hair as he would be at his jeans.  
  
  
It's not the kind of thought he wants to think about, with his pokémon out.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
Lyra somehow manages to find him at Fuchsia's zoo. She shoves him the instant she reaches him, cheeks red and looking crosser than Red's ever seen her before.  
  
"You! I've tried texting and calling, and you never answered! You jerk! Jerkjerkjerk!"  
  
People might be staring, and the lapras surely are, but Red doesn't check, or stop her. He lets her stamp her foot for the short while she likes, huffing and spinning around to show her back, folding her arms indignantly, while he stands with his head slightly bowed and his own arms useless at his sides. Waiting, until he can say- "Sorry."  
  
It takes more than that. It takes walking for a while, with heads turned towards the various enclosures yet looking right past them, for the air in her cheeks to finally deflate, and for her fists to loosen around the bottom of the cardigan she wears.  
  
"Green wouldn't tell me anything," she says, sulking still in her tone. "Misty said you two met up, but you'd already left, and I only found out you were here because Janine saw you."  
  
Red wonders when that was when he hasn't seen the gym leader himself, but it's not so important right now. "You don't have to worry so much."  
  
"I know. It's just..."  
  
Her lips pinch, her brow slanting, and she stops before a section crafted out to look like woods, dirtied and empty in appearance. Red takes a spot beside her, his eyes adjusting to separate the sudowoodo standing rigidly in place from the actual plants, geodude resting like stones at their feet.  
  
"Do you want to go to Misty's event together?"  
  
Lyra jumps a little, coming out of her own head. "That? Do you want to?" She brings her hands together, and her voice lightens. "Do you want to bring Green too? We can have a fun night out, the three of us—!"  
  
"I'm trying to ask just you," he hears himself cut in, his stomach tightening, his shoulders tense. She makes small baffled noises next to him, moving out of sight from the side of his vision.  
  
"Wh... why?"  
  
"Isn't that what you wanted?"  
  
He hears her shoes clap against the concrete, distance to her voice when she speaks.  
  
"I like hanging out with you, but," she breathes, holding onto it, letting it sit inside her— before, finally, "don't you like Green?"  
  
He says nothing. At his back, Lyra paces on soft, careful steps.  
  
"You're different with him, and you visit his gym all the time. When you were away, he talked to me about you, and once you started going to his gym, he kept it open more. The trainers there really liked it - even they noticed it too. I wasn't really sure at first, so I tried asking Misty, and..."  
  
Her footsteps aren't so soft now, scraping in what sounds like a sudden turn; and Red feels her arm bump against his as she comes back close to him, leaning into his line of sight.  
  
"You're both just so...difficult about each other! You're not like Ethan and me. Green gets huffy, and he wouldn't text you, even when he was asking me if I'd heard from you, and you — you start shutting up. You close up from everyone, the pair of you." Her brown hair spills into the side of his view as she turns away.  
  
"You don't talk."  
  
He wouldn't say he wants to talk now.  
  
But guilt and shame are harder to carry in his stomach than either alone. So he turns, eyes flinching with a hesitance to look at her, but finding the profile of her face, each part of it concerned, and acknowledging each crease and curve to be because of him. She returns his gaze slowly, and smiles, sadly.   
  
Her hands let go of the railing, slipping behind her back.   
  
"I thought you might make a move if I told you about Ida! Or— I don't know. I wanted Misty to tell me if she thought you two were really — you know!"  
  
She flushes as she reveals her secrets, avoiding eye contact to examine the ceiling above their heads. And him- he scoffs incredulously, quiet as it is, and his forehead on his arms, embarrassed, resigned.  
  
"Misty wanted me to take  _you_."  
  
"Misty thought I was trying too hard!" Lyra whines at the perceived betrayal, but then returns to a more cheery tone. "But I was right!"  
  
Red turns his head to her, a tiny form so full of victory over —  _this_ , ignoring the uncomfortable warmth of his body, but failing. "Right about _what?_ "  
  
" _You know._ "  
  
He frowns. "But I didn't—"  
  
"—say anything?" She finishes with a wink, flustering him further. "Exactly!"  
  
  
\---  
  
  
There's little that can stop Lyra when she has a goal in mind, and now that they're on the same wavelength (or what Lyra likes to call it; Red has his doubts), she feels less inclined about holding back. Somehow they're back to meeting with Misty, despite Red pointing out she has more on her mind than helping  _him_.  
  
And she looks half-exasperated when they come together again, but the other half amused. "Alright, so you were  _right_?"  
  
"Yup!"  
  
"And now you want my help—"  
  
"Yup—"  
  
"—dressing him up."  
  
" _Yup!_ "  
  
Red contemplates if throwing himself off the side of Nugget Bridge will actually finish him off or not. Unfortunately, neither Misty nor Lyra give him the opportunity.  
  
"What makes you think I want to do any of this?" They're standing around the guys' clothing aisle, and Red glances uncomfortably from side to side, growing more impatient by the second. He isn't one to usually care about what people think, but two girls fussing about what he should wear in public is a different story he never knew he'd be a part of.  
  
There's no one immediately close to them, but it doesn't help his nerves, much. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to, would you?" Lyra points out, and Red opens his mouth, but then gets distracted when she tries to pose a bright-patterned shirt to his chest. "Ohh, this is cute!"  
  
_Absolutely not._ He faces the endless loop of overpriced shirts, pretending on some level he means them when he says, "I don't know what I want."  
  
"Well, take this as a time to find out." Misty picks out a shirt from another rack, white with a light blue stripes running horizontally and vertically all over, overlapping. "You won't find if you do nothing, and it's not the end of the world if it doesn't fit. Take it from me."  
  
Her expression is sympathetic, doing little for his embarrassment, but he bites back on the frustrations on the end of his tongue and softens the edges of his mouth. She hands over the shirt, "it'd look nice with a shirt underneath," while Lyra sighs beside them.  
  
"It's a shame you still can't find a steady date, Misty. You're such an expert!"  
  
It's not the sympathetic compliment Lyra thinks it to be, Misty bristling from head to toe.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
Somehow, texting Green comes easier than a full day of clothes shopping with two girls. Which, actually, makes a lot of sense, and  _easier_  still means putting it off for about three hours.  
  
_@red: do you have plans wednesday  
  
@green: depends. whats it to you  
  
@red: lyra wants us to take her to mistys fireworks  
  
@green: uh  
@green: im pretty sure theres only one guy she wants to take her  
@green: wink nudge etc  
  
@red: its payment for the chocolates  
@red: weve already agreed youre coming  
@red: so just get dressed  
  
@green: you  
@green: youre the one telling -me- to get dressed?  
@green: you??  
@green: do you know what a pair of good clothes look like  
@green: do you own anything other than that ugly vest   
  
  
  
  
@green: alright fine whatever  
@green: ill come  
@green: but im leaving the second it gets boring  
  
@green: you owe me_  
  
  
\---  
  
"This is stupid," Red grumbles, fiddling with the folded sleeve of his button shirt and far too aware of his missing hat. Lyra slurps away at her drink, sharing none of his anxiety.  
  
"It's better than avoiding him." She gives him a look, somehow reading his mind when she stresses, "It  _is._ "  
  
He still doubts it, and more when she's shoving him forward not a moment later, spotting a tell-tale mess of ginger hair at the end of the bridge. "Go, go!"  
  
Green raises a brow at him when he finally gets to him, and Red tries not to stiffen when he eyes him up and down, quietly swallowing his nerves.  
  
"Where's Lyra?"  
  
"A friend showed up." He looks away to indicate she's somewhere in the crowd, and Green groans over the noise of the crowd.  
  
"Great. And what are  _we_  supposed to do?"  
  
Red shrugs. "Have fun."  
  
And from what he understood of Lyra's amazing plan, that was all there was to it: to stick around with Green and have fun. And maybe confess the undying love she must've pictured Red had for Green under a sky of beautiful fireworks if he felt daring. She hadn't added that last part, but she didn't need to, considering how much effort she had put into this whole mess. What else did she think was going to happen, or hoped?  
  
Misty's 'thing' at the very least has more than he'd expected it to: a corner sectioned off for the couple matches he barely remembered being discussed, a few food and drink vendors, even the odd games that then led the way towards the maze-like forest done up specifically for couples to walk through, with who-knows-what inside. He'd consider the games, but Red wasn't going to take them in  _that._  
  
He takes them to get some drink and food instead, which he pays for. Green is the first of them to really speak, taking a handful of the popcorn from his bag.  
  
"What've you been doing?"   
  
"I visited the other gym leaders."  
  
"Oh." Green pops a piece into his mouth, sounding not disappointed, but close to it, and Red watches him out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"Is that cheating?"  
  
Green doesn't choke (a shame), but he does scoff. "Hey, I'll happily send over the divorce papers. Glad to see the back of you."  
  
"We're married now?" It's silly, and it's stupid, but joke causes a skip to his stomach all the same, making it hard to look for a reaction. "You could've told me first."  
  
"Dealing with you  _feels_  like a marriage," Green complains beside him, oblivious. "And a lousy one at that. Being dragged around a boring cutesy get-together for couples and moms with kids? People are going to get the wrong idea, and  _you're_  not the one who'll hear about it."  
  
"You still agreed to come out on a  _date_  with the both of us."  
  
_Date:_  That's the word that does it. Green stops mid-step, and Red feels it in the air the second he bristles and fumes, his voice ringing loud in both ears at the first syllable.  
  
"A  _date!?_  This isn't a  _date_ , it's a—!" His drink sloshes over his hand, and Green curses, stopping to deal the mess. It also takes him out of his raving, giving him a moment to realise how public they are, and how loud he was being—and Red knows when it hits him, with the flush on his face turning dark as his expression transforms into something like a pinsir's. He shakes his hand and wipes it along the side of his jacket, mumbling, "Stupid waste of time, stuck with this  _idiot_ —"  
  
Red stifles his laughter, but not out of any sympathy. But he does take the drink from him, pinching their popcorn bag closed, and gesturing over to a booth. "I'll beat you at a game of ball toss. Like the sound of that?"  
  
"Sure, if I get to shove the ball down your throat."  
  
He gives him a shrug, a look that says  _try it_ , and walks over with Green eventually following him, with the promise that he'll "imagine the targets are your face."  
  
To which Red thinks, quite happily,  _mutual._  
  
The evening grows gradually entertaining from there, despite the 'accidental' knocks and nudges from their ball game to a  _test of strength_ , advertised with an cardboard cut-out of a machamp and a hammer with the face of a flexing geodude that makes Green snicker to watch Red pose with. Red even drags them through the lover's maze just for the hell of it, Green complaining the entire time, but Red no better, poking at the wings of ornamental butterfree in love and flicking the hearts hanging from above in Green's face, and having the same done back. They talk about something or other, about how Red really  _loves_  this kind of thing really, and oh yeah, Red wouldn't mind taking Green's sisters to a day out like this next time, which results in more of a yelp from a crushed foot than conversation, and maybe it was deserved, but not  _that_  hard—  
  
and it's all far from romantic, but dumb and stupid, and Red nearly loses his groove when he spots Lyra for an instance in the background giving a thumbs up, reminding him that it's supposed to be — _whatever_ it was supposed to be, in her mind.  
  
They park themselves on the grass on the other side regardless, orange hues mixing in with the blue of the sky, a bonfire closer to the cape, with no immediate plans to leave. Other people have gathered, the first lot of fireworks soon to start.   
  
( Poor Bill. )  
  
"This cheesy stuff just isn't for me. We could've gone anywhere else and had a better time."  
  
Green has his legs sprawled out and his arms propping him up from behind, the picture of relaxed despite his complaining. There's even a smile on his mouth, fun and warm, and Red can't stop smiling too, leaning forward on the knees of his own legs to keep it to himself.  
  
"Do you want to?" He asks.  
  
"Want to what?"  
  
"Go somewhere."  
  
Green starts with a laugh. "You wander off for over a week without a peep, and now you wanna drag me along?" He slides a foot along the grass, crossing his feet. "You're ridiculous."  
  
Maybe he is. No, he definitely is. He doesn't really care too much, right now. "We never went anywhere before, together."  
  
"Yeah, well," Green says; his voice a touch soft, a touch of reminiscence to it, "we would've murdered each other."  
  
"Yeah." And fondness, too. It's in the back of Red's throat as well, on the whole of his tongue. "I would've murdered you first."  
  
"Not a chance." A grin in a voice, loud and clear. Red feels the smile on his face want to crack into something much brighter.  
  
This could be plenty, he realises. He could say nothing more, leave it be, and it would be fine. It would be enough, after years of having nothing like this.   
  
But he can't help himself, the earlier memory of Lyra sticking in his mind, encouraging him. And so: "It didn't work out with Ida?"  
  
Green sounds almost weary when he answers, or indifferent. "I told you already, didn't I? It wasn't anything. She gave them to everyone."  
  
"You didn't want to?"  
  
"Where did you get _that_ idea?"  
  
He opens his mouth, but he isn't sure what to say, or what to admit. All at once, he feels a little guilty. A lot stupid.  
  
Except if there's anything more to be said, there's no more time. The first rocket screams up into the air, stalked by another as it pops in a small shower of glimmering lights, and the ohhs and ahhs of the others fill in where the murmurs of conversation had been, followed with some clapping. It interrupts their conversation, and there's no room to return to it throughout the whole show.   
  
But Green sits up beside him, back bent in his posture, and though they don't talk; though they don't touch beyond the side of Green's knee poking at the side of his leg; though Red doesn't look back to see the way the light might flash across Green's face, colours just catching on the curve of his cheeks, washing away as they fade; though he doesn't try to do anything cheesy, like lean over and kiss him, tell him how good he's looked all day, confess to feelings he hasn't wrapped his own head around yet—  
  
He thinks this'll do for tonight.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
"Hey."   
  
They're standing outside their homes, Red rolling down the sleeves of his shirt when he stops to look at Green. He's just finished putting his pidgeot back to his belt, folding his arms after over his chest.  
  
"I'll think about it. That trip." It takes Red a moment, but he realises what he means: the one he mentioned. The one together. "But next time you disappear," Green goes on, firmly, "let your mom know next time, yeah? And you should try dressing like a human being more often."  
  
Red smiles, somewhat shy, somewhat smug, but more of the latter when he asks, "Do you like it?"  
  
Green waves a hand, turning for his house. "Only you'd take that as a compliment—but sure, if that means you'll look less embarrassing. See you around, dork."  
  
  
\---  
  
  
"They didn't kiss, but I've got a good feeling about the future!"  
  
Misty sighs at the energy which Lyra recounts the evening of two dumb guys over the pokégear, a faint crackling and the noise of what sounds like birds and their tamers coming through the line. She swishes her feet in the pool's water, glad to be back in the gym and done with all the clearing up at Cerulean's cape. It didn't matter how many garbage cans you provided— _some_ people just really thought rubbish belonged on the ground.  
  
"You shouldn't get  _too_  smug. Didn't you nearly goof things up with your meddling?"  
  
"It's fine! I mean, it turned  _out_  fine, so it was fine," Lyra insists, so charming and youthful. it's hard to believe sometimes she's technically  _above_  her in the trainer rank pyramid. "It's okay, I'll go about it better this time. You don't learn without a few hiccups along the way—"  
  
" _This_  time?"  
  
"Wellllll," Lyra drags out, and Misty already hears herself whispering,  _oh no._  "I'm not sure yet, but there's two gym leaders... have you heard of a boy called Falkner from Johto? And the gym leader in Fuchsia, Janine..."  
  
  
\---  
  
  
Ida doesn't find it too surprising when Green announces he's thinking of taking a trip sometime soon, but does that he decided to tell them beforehand, for once. Maybe they're growing on him, or he's growing into the standard gym leader role. ... slowly, yes, but surely. She'll take the small victories along the way; it's either this, or train under Pewter City's gym leader. Who's nice, but who can turn down training under a guy who became a champion at eleven years old? He might've not held the title for long, he kept the skill, and more.  
  
So if that means battling against Bonita and his bizarre spinda (and at that, sudowoodo, too), she'll suffer it, every time—  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Huh?" She blinks, looking up from her bag—where a guy stands, red hat, brown hair, and the whole of her startles as she realises who it is.  
  
"Oh," she manages, looking for the rest of her voice. "Hi— Red?"  
  
Red stares at her, his expression kinda unreadable, his expression kinda— _weird_. He doesn't say anything, but joins her where she's knelt, and she's not sure what to do as he pulls on the zipper of his own bag and digs around. She searches the room rather uselessly for Elan, paused in what she was doing while she waits. And then he pulls it out.  
  
That is: box. A box that he holds out to her, without any explanation other than: "This is for you. Apology chocolates."  
  
Chocolates is an easy assumption by the design on the front, not even wrapped for being apology chocolates. But what _made_ them apology chocolates wasn't clear, and certainly not about to get any clearer with Red getting up to leave. "Um, I think you've got the wrong person."  
  
He makes a noise, a disagreement, and shakes his head. "It's a long story," he provides, shrugging as she stares blankly at him, and then turns to walk away. "See you around."  
  
Then he's gone, leaving through the front door. She doesn't even notice when Elan walks up, and doesn't even jump when he speaks. " _Red_  gave you those?"   
  
"Don't ask _me_."  
  
"Hmm." Elan folds his arms, looking thoughtful. "I did think I caught him watching you a bit oddly lately..."  
  
" _Elan._ "  
  
"What?" He smiles merrily. "He might just have a crush on you."  
  
  
  
\---  
  
_@red: hey  
@red: green  
  
@green: what is it  
  
@red: that night  
@red: in cerulean  
@red: lyra set the whole thing up to get us to spend time together. i agreed to it.  
  
@green: uhhhhh  
@green: why  
  
@red: because  
  
  
@red: i was jealous  
  
@green: jealous?  
@green: of what  
@green: red?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
@green: wait_  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> 'unfortunately, red had already left for hoenn before green even left his house to confront him.'
> 
> (more importantly, yes, red did give chocolates back to daisy and lyra. and his mother too.)


End file.
